The Ombusdman as National Preventive Mechanism

By Council of Ministers’ Resolution No. 32/2012, of May 20th, the Portuguese Ombudsman was appointed as the National Preventive Mechanism, an organism that, in Optional Protocol to the Convention – applicable in our legal system since February 14th, 2013 – has the aim to defend the rights of persons deprived of their liberty and to check the regard of those Convention’s rules in jurisdiction space of each State-member.

To accomplish this objective, it was established that National Preventive Mechanism should do, periodically and without prior notice, visits to places where are persons deprived of their liberty, such as police stations detention’ cells, prisons facilities, educational centers and psychiatry hospitals..